Another fantastic book by CJ Leede! This was gripping, gory, and endlessly creepy. It reminded me faintly of an incredibly disturbing version of the movie Zombieland. I couldn’t put it down, and wish it didn’t end! I actually SCREAMED when I read the final paragraph.

Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this incredible book!

I am sick to my stomach in the best way. I’m throwing up crying. 10 stars.

I’ll attach my GR and instagram reviews when I am emotionally well enough to perceive this book again.

I thought that the religious trauma aspect of this story was handled really well overall. My biggest qualm was with the 24 year old police officer being a sort-of love interest for a 16 year old girl. I do, in part, understand why he had to be a police officer, since I think it's realistic that a sheltered teenager would trust someone in a position of authority under the book's circumstances. It's just hard for me personally to root for a cop.
If you're fine with that, then you might like this better than I did! Again, the religious trauma stuff was good, but I wish there was a little more horror. I wish the stakes for the main characters felt a little higher throughout. Despite that, this was an easy, quick, addictive read.

Thank you so much to Tor Publishing Group/Tor Nightfire, NetGalley & CJ Leede for this ARC of American Rapture.
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I'm a huge fan of CJ Leede's writing style - Maeve Fly is my favorite read of 2024 (and the book that single handedly brought me out of my self imposed reading hiatus). This is CJ Leede's second novel and it did not disappoint! This was such a fun read - the story is absolutely amazing and I just fell in love with the characters right off the bat. This book brought out so many nostalgic feelings for me - especially the feelings you feel when you're a teen and just discovering and learning the rules of love.
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This book is heavily based around Catholicism and how sometimes beliefs can be absolutely detrimental to a person. That being said, I feel like CJ Leede did an excellent job writing about Catholicism without it sounding mocking, judgmental or degrading. There are a few scenes that brought tears to my eyes because sometimes the church/religion denies you salvation even though you've done a kindness.
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I do want to add a content warning to this review because there is an animal death scene is this book that is rather long/horrific - so please be aware of that. The book absolutely could not live without the scene as it complements the story.
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I highly recommend this book. The apocalypse in the story is so unique and STICKY - what a wild ride!

This title will be featured/reviewed in a print publication. Please contact this reviewer directly for more details.

This book was a fun read! I haven't read any CJ Leede before so went into it not knowing or expecting much, but it held my interesest the whole way through. I read the second half in one sitting on a cross country flight, and was entertained the whole time. Thanks NetGalley and TorPublishing Group!

Say hello to my most anticipated read of the year. I read an early copy of Maeve Fly and sang its praises to anyone who would listen to me. While this one personally isn’t as top tier as Maeve was for me, it was a damn good read. I love Leedes’ punchy writing style and stream of consciousness prose. It felt very fitting for our 16 year old protagonist, Sophie.

This is one book that can’t be defined with a simple subgenre. It’s essentially a coming-of-age story set in a pandemic with themes of religious guilt, purity culture, sexual/bodily autonomy, sexuality, and humans being worse than monsters. People who grew up in strict religious households will particularly connect with this one.

Be diligent with checking out trigger warnings because this strives to make you uncomfortable and very often succeeded. As an animal lover, I would be remiss not to warn others that this has the most horrific on page animal death that I’ve ever read. I was a bit shocked to read it, considering how much of an animal advocate and lover Leedes’ is and I think the surprise of it being in the book hit me even harder. There was also references to terrible things happening to children but nothing explicitly said. Obviously rape is a huge trigger that happens in this book, considering the plot. There was also a lot of romantic tension between a minor and an adult. I think this book would’ve been just as powerful and a lot less uncomfortable if Sophie was 18 and not 16.

And that ending? Um, hello devastating.

Overall, I really loved this one and couldn’t put it down. I was completely invested the first 75%. I do wish things played out differently in the final quarter but that just might be a testament to how much I loved the majority of this book.

This booked piqued my interest based on the description and I can say I was pleasantly surprised. I grew up in the church all my life up until the past few years and this book actually goes into a couple reasons the church has fallen out of favor with me. For a book that has a virus that makes people horny zombies, it also ends up being very un-sexy. Be warned this book also is very gore heavy. Also as a note there is underage sex alluded to but nothing explicit. And the teenage main character seems to have a crush on an adult male but it doesn't really go anywhere. Overall, I do love a book with a semi-open ending that may not be a happy one

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the arc. The premise, especially in the beginning, reminds me a lot of Crossed or The Sadness (plague media where the afflicted are violent). But, there is more to this one.

I love that this story calls forth ideas about who we are as people. Should we be good because of fear what comes after death? What is goodness anyway? The use of Catholicism is masterful even if it is sometimes a bit on the nose.

It would be difficult to survive and come of age in such an eerie apocalypse. How do you wrestle with a world from which you were sheltered? Sophie, and by extension the reader, are challenged to think beyond easy platitudes. Engaging in critical thought could be your salvation (from tyranny or zombies or god’s wrath (?)).

This is an absolute BANGER of a novel. It is horrific, but perhaps the monsters of our quotidian existence should scare us more. The ending is open, but it should be that way. In the end, Sophie learns what we all should. You might even say she had a revelation.

"No hate in the world like Christian love"

Wow. There is a lot to unpack in this novel.
Sophie has grown up in a strict Catholic home, and is extremely sheltered. Her twin brother is no longer in the home, and she longs to be reunited with the other half of her soul. While trying to navigate being a teenager and follow her religious beliefs, a virus is spreading like wildfire across the United States, causing people to act like sex-crazed zombies.

"The church has. They make us so afraid of possession, of doing wrong and being wrong, because they don't want us to see they've done it to us already."

This novel is so many sub-genres in one. It is a coming-of-age-pandemic novel. It discusses generational trauma, sexual exploration, religious guilt, and seeing the gray in-between the black and whites of life. It was a crazy ride, but at the same time it didn't fully resonate with me. I couldn't relate to the themes around Catholic guilt, and it felt extremely on the nose and heavy handed at times. Especially near the end. Even though I agreed with what was being said, I just felt like Leede was hitting me over the head with a sledgehammer, when lets face it: if you didn't agree with the message in this novel, you wouldn't continue reading it.
There was also a relationship with an older character, Maro, that had a lot of tension I didn't fully understand. It made sense at the start, but as time went on, I wasn't sure exactly what Leede was getting at.
I am wavering between a 3.5 and a 4 star on this one

"What is good anyway? When the people who are supposed to be the ultimate embodiment of Goodness seem to be those who hate and fear the most."

I'm so sad this wasnt for me because this author's debut, Maeve Fly, is one of my favorite books of all time. I'm not a fan of fragmented writing if it's done in a more lazy less stylistic way that shows more than tells. Also huge trigger warning for the most horrific dog death I've ever read. I appreciated the author's note at the end though.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My Selling Pitch:
The Last of Us but it’s Hoevid instead of Covid, and it’s not!Ellie vs Catholic guilt.

Pre-reading:
We are halfway through the year, and I still have not had a five-star. This is my most anticipated book of the year. If it’s not five stars, I would be shocked. I adored Maeve Fly. It was my best book of last year, and easily one of my favorite books of all time.

Thick of it (obviously this section will have spoilers. continue reading at your own risk):
This book is already starting in on the religious horny, and I am in. (But like only for this intro, and then we’re done with it.)

I’m assuming they sent her brother to pray the gay away camp. (Yup.)

Would love if these children were 18. (Repeat ad infinitum.)

C. J.’s writing is just satire and hyperbole and then juicy little nuggets, and I adore it.

Purity culture is so fucked.

I can’t say fuck religion enough.

I remember getting dragged to church and being so bored, and there was literally no reason children couldn’t color or read during it. It was so stupid. And what is it with churches and fucking donuts?

For the record, I’m reading this book drinking chocolate milk out of a wine glass and eating baby goldfish and a beef stick so I feel full Midwest.

Churning like butter, oh god

Ha ha, very Covid.

So you’re saying they’ve got red right hands.

Do you feel it coming in the air tonight? 🎶 Emphasis on coming.

Girlypop and I have the same book choosing system. No DNFs. Suffer through!

God, I hope girlypop gets to leave religion and become a person.

Woah, because that’s so eerie. The Valley of Horses was my first dirty book too, and I also accidentally skipped book one. That’s so wild. Of all the books in the world she manages to land on the same one I did. Religion is fucked, man. We’re all the same.

It’s not Covid, it’s hoevid.

I’m 20%. This book is to get about to get wild. I am so ready.

It’s very Manhunt.

It’s reminding me of the Jurassic Park T-Rex and Jeep scene, and I love it.

Oh, what an absolutely damning perspective on the Bible and rape culture. C.J. Leede you absolute legend.

Here’s the thing, I’m not live laugh loving this time around like I was with Maeve Fly, and I think it’s down to our protagonist. She comes across a little too childish. Like I don’t wanna hear about the thing between the man’s legs. Say penis. I feel like the book in general could be more crass, but I also understand why we’re getting the perspective that we are. But when C.J. does her angry feminist writing, it’s chef’s kiss. I just wish we had a protagonist with that mindset too so we could get that narrative throughout the entire book instead of just whiffs of it.

What are people doing for the bathroom in this gridlock? How about water?

It’s a little 11 and the sheriff guy from Stranger Things.

It’s framed by cornfields? We’re getting a cornfield zombie scene. (Wrong.)

Oh shit, there’s a wood chipper? Gimmie a gory wood-chipper zombie scene. (SIGH.)

I wish she was older. I wish we were going to get a bit of a horny romance. (SIGH.)

Won’t the mosquitoes transmit this disease if it’s any bodily fluid?

Okay, Cujo.

Why can’t she just be 18 so she and the cop can fall in love, but also fuck the police. But like what if we FUCK the police.

What about a period? I feel like C.J. will remember girls have periods at the end of the world. (No, and it frustrates me every time I read these stupid apocalypse novels.)

Again, I would be so down for this if she wasn’t 16.

Oh my god, she’s covered in cum. C.J. C.J. that’s a minor!

Doesn’t she still need to pee?

The dog better not fucking die.

How was the dog OK on the highway in the back of a pickup truck?

Oh, it’s Joel and Ellie.

Cows huddle before storms. (More Sam lore, she’s farmy.)

They walked into a house with boiling water? What house did he think they were going to? That’s such an abrupt leaving, like how would you not pass them in their car? Also, why did they have to leave so abruptly? They didn’t take any of their belongings? They didn’t ransack the house? That’s so weird.

She’s so good at writing desirable men, but I’m also like Samantha, no, she’s 16.

Oh god, not a manic pixie dream girl.

Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore.

Put the dog in the cab. I don’t care that he “doesn’t fit.” Make him fit. Hold that hundred pound baby in your lap.

I am deeply afraid of tornadoes, fun fact.

This is a little melodramatic and too fast.

And a fade to black during a tornado is LAZY writing.

Detritus sin

This is a lot like Night’s Edge and Camp Damascus and The Last of Us and Manhunt.

I think we’re rocking about a 3 1/2 right now. The horror moments are good, but some of the writing has been a little lazy, and it’s almost a little too cliché with the Covid dystopia, and the main character being so underage is really messing with me. I think we could get up to a four. I don’t know if this can get a five. Honestly, so far I like Manhunt better. I like Night’s Edge better.

How are you gonna love triangle me in this book?

Here’s what’s frustrating, he’s a much more age-appropriate love interest and probably the dude she’ll wind up with, but I like the cop, and I never like a cop.

I wanna be inside your skin!

I don’t know what it is, but I don’t like Ben I don’t trust him. I think it’s because people are their friends and homeboy was literally hanging out with young rapists.
But then her other option is literally a cop.

It’s fun in funerals time. (This prediction never fails, and it is my favorite cliché.)

Once again, with a bullhorn: fuck religion.

C. J. knows how to do a soundtrack.
What a perfect song for this scene.
I feel like it would make a killer montage with like the sped-up style that Umbrella Academy does.

Fainting again is lazy fucking writing.

I am automobile illiterate. Don’t know what a suburban is, so I will be picturing a minivan because it’s funny.

No hate in the world like Christian love is a baller line.

I know Cleo is a more age-appropriate and better romance for cop, but I like cop, and I want cop.

I love that he has a pink gun. My sweet baby.

Oh, fuck me, I’m in. Maro and Cleo are cute.

Maro has chemistry with everyone. His name sucks though.

She’s diverse. She’s a romp. None of these children are allowed to die. OK? There’s no way they’re all gonna make it out alive, but like none of them are allowed to die.

They’ve made Helen seem bitchy, so I’m sure she’ll get a redemption arc and then be expendable because she’s the most expendable of the gang. That or the little kid for like a cheap shot. Because like normal people like kids. And so help me god, if that dog-

Maro, would you just give up on the job? It’s bunker time, baby.

As someone who has never been bitten by the travel bug and has not seen Wisconsin, I had no idea what this house was. If you don’t, you have to Google it. It’s nuts. It’s real.

We’ve hit four-star territory. This is a good dystopian apocalypse book. I care about the characters.

Now someone better fuck someone who’s of age.

Butter lesbians. Is this the plot twist? No men just lesbians?

Yeah, I was not taught about Lilith either. I got exposed to it from Supernatural and Hazbin Hotel. And it’s such an interesting story and such great evidence that religion is solely to enforce the patriarchy. And like fuck men, fuck religion.

Homeboy’s a reader. He should not want to liken his romance to Romeo and Juliet. The fuck?

You know, time and place for horny.
Samantha, you were just asking for people to fuck. Yeah, but then I keep remembering they’re 16, and I’m like get me out of here. Abort.

Is girlypop infected? I’m gonna be sad if she dies.

I don’t want Helen to be dead. I hate being right.

Shut up, Ben.

Why does he have to make her attack about him? Fuck off. Give me more Maro. I’m done with this shithead.

Why leave though? It’s empty and has power. You have supplies. You have a car. You could get more supplies and live there. The weird Christians are not gonna come to one random fun house where there’s no cars parked.

Not another 24-year-old blue-collar man milf hunter. Why are they like that like? Take your mommy issues elsewhere.

Is he gonna have to do the classic man positions girl “accidental” flirting? I’m- I still like him best.

I hate that I’m rooting for this, like frothing at the mouth for a cop romance, and then I have to be like Samantha, 16. SIT down.

Here’s the thing, I am once again rabid for the romance just like I was for Maeve Fly. It is saving this book because I don’t really care about saving the world or getting to her brother. I couldn’t care less about the brother. And I would feel less icky about enjoying the romance parts of this book if she was 18. But they made her 16 and that is bad. So bad. 24 and 16 is not chill. Very unchill. I don’t want a 24-year-old to even glance in a 16-year-old‘s direction. Even 20, I’m like what’s wrong with you?

Oh shit, is it Ben’s ex-boyfriend?

Oh, Ben’s native not Indian. That fucking racist flat earther.

You’re telling me this has been eight days? I’m feral for this man in eight days? Samantha, please.

Oh fuck Dune.

I don’t care that he’s more age-appropriate. I don’t like him.

We stand in lethal color, absolute banger.

I want this book to end with a time jump and her getting together with the cop. (I never get what I want.)

If this book ends with her and Ben together, I’m gonna riot.

Sam the whole book: I don’t like the main character
The book: she’s a libra
Sam: it all makes sense

Oh, so is she going to confess that she’s only 17, or is Maro gonna kiss her cause he thinks she’s of age now? (We don’t get to have nice things.)

There’s a running joke about me and how I somehow always read books about bears, and I love that every book continues to perpetuate this.

Also, I love hyenas.

What’s the if you’re a bird, I’m a bird? (Sam still has not watched the Notebook.)

Have I mentioned that passing out is lazy fucking writing.

Oh naur Cleor

Oh, and the religious nuts killed Wyatt too because they’re fucking assholes.

No, oh my god, not the dog, not the dog

OK well now I’m crying because she killed the dog. How dare you? Oh my god, how dare you. Not the dog, oh no. (Sam takes book notes using voice texting and then edits once she finishes. Punctuating this little bit was interesting, to say the least.)

Please let the dog live, please.

I don’t want Ben. Fuck off, Ben. Why does Ben get to live and not the dog?

And we’re killing Maro. What the fuck?

C.J. what the fuck.

I hate Ben. Why are we doing this? Why are we doing this? Why are we doing this? I’m having such a dramatic reaction. I’m so loud right now, my poor neighbors, but oh my god, why?

He got to save his sister this time is so painful, but also ew, because I wanted them in love, and I hate it here. I hate it here. I hate it here.

That was the rudest chapter I’ve ever read. Oh my god, everyone is dead. This sucks.

I don’t wanna read this book anymore. Why is he dead?

Well, what’s the point now? Chapter 42? What, we’re gonna go deal with her brother? I don’t care about the brother. I cared about the dog and the cop, and they’re gone.

Burn it to the ground.

That’s awfully convenient that he lived just long enough to talk to them.

I like that she included that juxtaposition of someone who is religious for themselves and with minimal harm, but still fuck your goddamn religion. I’m so glad you just wanted to help people and you would sacrifice yourself for it, but the cause you’re doing it for literally fucks so many people over. It is not without harm. You can help people without being a part of that organization. Get so fucked.

Wow, she’s legally stupid. I’m like what do you mean your brother didn’t tell you where to go? He literally said he’s going to Twin Island, and she’s like it’s a metaphor, and I’m like babe, it’s directions!

Yeah, let’s trade one high-control religion for another. That’s great.

There’s only 3% left in this book. There’s no way it’s gonna end satisfactorily.

I’m getting pissy because we had made it to a four-star, and now this ending is sending us right back to a three-star.

Hey, you know it would be super cool if she was 18 while this was happening and not 17 because I don’t like it, but I appreciate that we’re glossing over it because she is still a minor, but also she could just not be a minor, and this could still be the same story. And then Sam could get her smut.

Maybe it’s a fever is a great last line.

Fuck, I’m so torn. OK, four stars, but also I’m pissed.

It makes sense that this was her first book. It reads like it. It is not Maeve. Maeve is a masterpiece. This is a draft.

I do think C. J. is so incredibly talented. I also think this book could’ve used another pass. It is good as it is. It does not need to be rewritten. But it could’ve been great.

Post-reading:
Well, it’s no Maeve Fly.

I went into this book with outrageously high expectations after loving Maeve last year. That was a perfect book for me.

The way this book was pitched to me, I thought this would be perfect too. It’s not what I expected. From the author’s announcement calling this her horny wind book and the incredible mood boards she posted on her insta, I was expecting something dark and sexy and sleazy. That is not this book.

This book reads like YA horror, and it’s good for YA horror, but it’s inevitably disappointing when you go in looking for something else.

If you’re gonna do religious commentary, I need you to say something that hasn’t already been said 900 times before, and this book doesn’t do that. It’s the same basic revelations that women are worth more than their virginity and wanting to have sex isn’t sinful and gay people aren’t going to hell because religion is just made up by some dude. I want more. I need some nuanced arguments. You’re not going to find that in this book.

What you will find is your basic dystopian apocalypse romp. The characters are diverse and engaging. C. J. can write romances and the pairings ooze chemistry. There’s niche references and killer soundtrack cues.

But nothing feels all that new. Sophie and Maro feel like a riff on Joel and Ellie. Cleo reads like a cheap Michonne. The book has a similar tone to Night’s Edge and Camp Damascus, two other books that are sold as adult horror but read YA to me.

The book has some pacing problems. It’s slow until it’s not, and then it’s too fast to appreciate the action. Having a character pass out three times so that the scene can advance is lazy writing.

I think the book shoots itself in the foot a bit by having the main character be a sheltered 16-year-old girl. I wanted a main character like No Exit’s Darby or Ninth House’s Alex. Sophie’s not angry enough for me.

But I was so invested in her relationship with Maro, and while I might wish that she had been older so that we could’ve gotten some filthy cop’s handcuffs smut, what we do get is brilliantly complicated and toxic and so well executed. It’s forbidden, it’s slightly incestuous, it’s weird, and it works. It kept me plowing through the story for any crumb of their on page chemistry.

Ben didn’t work for me. I think people are very much who they surround themselves with, and I hated his friends. You tell the audience he’s a reader, so it makes no sense that he would want to compare his romance to Romeo and Juliet. He just had that #NiceGuy vibe about him, and I wanted nothing to do with him.

Like a lot of dystopian novels, this book asks you to suspend disbelief almost to a fault. It’s possible. You can do it. You can go in and just vibe. But this book clearly intends to comment on society and high control religion. It’s hard to take that seriously when your world is so over the top. It’s not coming across as satire. It’s not coming across as exaggerated for pointed effect. It’s coming across as bad world-building because you expect your audience to buy it. There’s so much material to work with here if you’re going to have your apocalypse mirror Covid. There’s so much more to be said when your virus triggers sexualized behavior. For all of Manhunt’s faults, it was not afraid to go there. This book shied away. And I have to think that’s because of the YA skew to this book because Maeve is unflinching, so I know the author has it in her.

The plot itself is a lot of traveling from point A to point B. The tornado felt like jumping the shark. It had no consequences. A lot of the driving forces that push the characters from point A to point B feel deus ex machina.

The main character’s motivation feels a bit weak. She is desperate to get to her brother, but the audience never gets to bond to him. We don’t care about him, so why do we care if she accomplishes that? We care about the cop and the dog, and they get ripped away from us. That is a well-done and satisfactory gut punch. Reading the author’s note it becomes very clear why she wanted the dog to hurt so much, and I support her doing it, but I won’t be forgiving her.

I don’t know how C. J. landed on the Valley of Horses for her sexual awakening book, but she absolutely nailed it. That was my book. I feel like it’s probably a lot of ex-Catholic horse girls’ book. I think it’s so eerie that she also went straight to book two. It’s such a niche reference, but if you know the book it will hit perfectly.

And for all my ranting and raving that I’m doing in this review, I have to reiterate that I think she is a brilliant author. She understands the random specific little things that capture the essence of something. I think that’s so obvious from her Pinterest boards for her books and from her soundtracks.

I spent a lot of time trying to convince myself that I liked this book and that it was going to go in a direction that I wanted it to. It doesn’t. I think you ride a three-star for the first 50% of this, and then once the book shifts to an ensemble cast, you creep into four-star territory because all of a sudden you have that snappy dialogue, you have action happening. And then you kill everyone the audience cares about. Which is great. I love when books make me feel something, but it does ruin the ending for me. She doesn’t accomplish her goal. She doesn’t end up in the romance that I wanted her to. And it probably would’ve been a three-star had that last line not saved this book. It’s just the right amount of ambiguous. It captures the theme of lust being a contagion so well.

The inclusion of the billboard sayings and pointing out the hypocrisy in America, just by positioning them next to each other is the best part of this book.

And I feel like this sounds like a very negative review. I don’t mean for it to be. It’s a good book. You just told me it was gonna be feral with lust, and it never delivers on that. Feral with lust was ripping a hockey player’s tooth out of his mouth. This book doesn’t have that unhinged sexiness, and that’s what I craved. My big complaint with this book and the reason it’s not five stars is that I wanted it to be darker, I wanted it to be sexier, and I wanted more bite, and that has been my complaint with reading as a whole all year long.

If you like good YA horror, if you like Covid dystopian apocalypse novels, absolutely pick this up. If you’re looking for another Maeve Fly, this is not your book. But good god, do I love this author, and I cannot wait for what she writes next.

Who should read this:
The Last of Us Fans
Apocalypse in general fans
Ex Catholics
Religious commentary fans
YA horror fans

Do I want to reread this:
Lowkey no. She’s not horny, she has no message I needed, and I don’t want to relive my favorites dying again, thank you.

Similar books:
* Night’s Edge by Liz Kerin-arguably the same book, dystopian apocalypse au covid commentary, but make it vampires instead of zombies, gay as hell
* Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle-YA religious commentary horror, gay as hell
* Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica-dystopian apocalypse au, social and gender commentary
* Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin-dystopian apocalypse au, social and gender commentary, gay as hell
* Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison-reads like YA horror, religious commentary
* Normal Women by Ainslie Hogarth-gender commentary mommy horror

This was an instant 5 star for me! It was everything I was hoping for. The adventure, the emotions, the relationships were all so perfect and I will recommend this book to everyone!

C.J. Lede is quickly becoming a favourite author of mine and has yet to disappoint. American Rapture was such a great story and beautifully written. I won’t be forgetting these character and their stories anytime soon!

This book had everything! Super excited to recommend this to all my horror loving friends. Well written and keeps you thoroughly interested throughout. Great book

I really enjoyed this book! I loved all the characters and really felt for them during the story. I also really loved the ending! I will pick up anything she writes from here on out.

This book broke my heart in the best way. If CJ Leede wrote about paint drying I would eat it up. I am so thankful for this ARC, American Rapture exceeded my expectations and is definitely my favorite book of the year so far. Virgin heroine isn’t my favorite genre but this book was so amazing I might have changed my stance on it.

A genre blending horror with a lot of bloody heart, mixing coming of age, final girl, found family, and apocalyptic themes Leede has crafted a ferocious tale examining religion, it's hypocrisy and autonomy, with echoes of Carrie this handles religious and generational trauma with unflinching finesse, the conflicting and complex emotions of guilt, shame and the want for something more are skillfully handled, seeing everything through the eyes of a teenage girl as she grapples with good and evil and the shades of grey inbetween was heartbreaking, a truly poignant and important read, whats phenomenal about this book is much like our protagonist, the readers own beliefs are challenged, make no mistake this is a violent and brutal read (plenty of triggers so check them before reading) five big sobbing stars 😭

Ok, I finished this book 11 days ago and I haven’t fully recovered yet. I don’t want to give a lot away because I could go on and on about what I thought about this book!!!
CJ Leede you are a treasure and must be protected at all costs so you can continue to write these masterpieces!!
This one had my damn heart! I loved all the characters, I felt like I was living through Sophie and damn that was tough! I felt like my heart was ripped from my chest, thrown down, stomped on and then put right back.
I have never cried as a result of reading a book like I did with this one. I cried for a solid 45 minutes, maybe hour after I was done and anytime I thought of something I would just start crying again.
I am unwell but I would read this for the first time all over again if I had the chance. I’m actually kind of mad that I can’t ever read this again for the first time.
Read it!!! It is a tough one so check for triggers but if you can, read it. You will not regret it!!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the ARC. *deep breath* This book is a wild ride from start to finish. C.J. managed to capture different facets of horror and brought them together in a gorgeous fashion. Equally devastating, beautiful & terrifying, it also manages to be so relatable to many. I could not put it down. This book feels like C.J. bared her very soul to us, she gave us a raw and real tale that I will not soon forget. Thank you C.J. for that gift. I cannot wait to read what else you have in store for us.